Steam-engine lubricator



Nov.- 20, 1928.

- P. DORSEY STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATOE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 `Filed June 5, 1925@7K2 HASH Nov. 20, 1928. 1,692,202

P. DoRsEY STEAM ENGINE LUBRICATOR Filed 'June 5, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 NQ u S QQ t: Xq N N I FQ N d Q m u.

S' AM j /y 4 f @i pj N I V" "u QQ mr? g l 1 *'T e@ fx n E w G Imm/EN TO:

.Patented Nov. 2Q, 1928.

lNifl-ED STATES PATENT FFICE.

FARMER DORSEY, F VICEIITA, KANSAS, ASSEGNOR TG THE MFEEAL BRASS MANU'-FACTURING COMZANY, OF CHCAGO, ILLNOS, .A CORPORATON OF LLINOIS.

STEAM-ENGINE LUBRICATOR.

Application led June 3, 1925.

' My invention is concerned with apparatus for the lubrication of steamengines and locomotives, and is designed to produce a. device of theclass described which can be readily filled with oil without disturbingits action and without the necessity of stopping to drain out the wateraccumulated'in the reservoir and to be replaced by the oil.k

It is also concerned with such a device in which it can be readilyfilled with oil, and Without the possibility of pumping any air into thereservoir incase the supply of oil should be exhausted before thereservoir is filled.

It is finally concerned with such a device in which oil can, whendesired, hepumped directly and in quantity to some part to belubricated, suc-h as the air pump cylinder, without the necessity of itspassing through the lubricator.

To illustrate my invention, 1 annex hereto two sheets of drawings, inwhich the same reference characters are used to c esignate identicalparts in all the figures, of which,-

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2, througha portion of a lubricator having my invention applied thereto; n

Fig. 2 is a view partly in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of the lubricatorproper in section on the line 3-3 ofFig. 4; and

Fig. 4 is a view in section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view showing a modification.

Referring firstl to Figs. 3 and 4, I have in these figures shown, exceptas hereinafter described, an old construction of a sight-feedlubricator, on which my invention is an improvement. Various forms ofsuch sightfeed lubricators can be employed, but the one illustratedconsists of a generally cylindrical reservoir 1() which is provided atone end with a valve connection 11 which may or may not be employed, andat the other end with a connection nut 12, into which the outlet end 13of the force feed pump subsequently to be described can screw. Thereservoir has eX- tending vertically through the same a plurality ofpreferably integral tubes 14, three being shown, and it will beunderstood that one or more of these tubes may be employed as desired.At the bottom of each of these tubes located sight and a nipplecustomaryy manner.

Serial No. 34,535.

16 adapted to be closed or regulated at its bottom by a needle valve 17,so that the rate of the feed of the oil, drop by drop, upward from thenipple 16 can be regulated in the Above the reservoir 10 is mounted asteam casing 13 which is provided with a connection 19 to the boiler,said connection 19 being provided with a valve seat 2O so that the valve21 can co-operatev therewith to close off the boiler pressure whendesired. From the bottom of the steam casing`187 there is located apassage 22 having a. valve seat 23 therein, so that the passage may beclosed by the valve 24 as desired, and the passage 22 is extended downinto the reservoir by the passage 25 located beyond the valve seat, andpreferably formed on the back of the central tube 14. Each of the tubes14 is provided at its upper end with an outlet, the out-let 26 of thecentral tube only being shown in full. Part of the outlets 27 for theouter tubes 14 are seen in Fig. 3. Each of these outlets has connectedwith the upper portion thereof one of the three pipes 28 eX- tendingupward into the steam casing 18, and in practice it will be understoodthat the water of condensation from the boiler stands in the casing 18and passes down through the passages 22 and 25 to the reservoir,displacing the oil therein to the upper portionU whence it descendsunder pressure through the tube 29 opening into the top of the reservoirto the horizontal passage 30 in the bottom of the reservoir casting,whence the oil can pass laterally through the ports 31 into each of thepockets 32 associated with the valves 17. The sight-feed lubricator thusfar described is of a well known construct-ion, and, per se, constitutesno part of my invention, which may employ other similar sightfeedlubricators.

As a preferred form of a force feed pump, I employ that shown in Figs. 1and 2, where it will be seen that the outlet 13 is part of a casting 33having four projections, as it were, the projection 34 serving toenclose the barrel 35 of the pump, which has the solid piston 36 adaptedto reciprocate therein through the customary stuffing boxes 37, 37. Thepiston is preferably manipulated by the handle 38, preferably operatingas a lever of the second class, with the fulcrum 39 formed by the link40 pivoted at its other end to the yoke 41, which embraces theprojection 34 and s secured in any desired position of adjustment bv thenut 42 threadedon said pro said casing, and toward the upper endthereof, I form the annular seat 46, upon which lll is fit-ted thebottom of the tanlr 47 which contains the supply of oil 'to` be pumpedinto the reservoir l() when it is needed. @n the top of this 'casing 14,I forni the .valve seat 48 with which cooperates the float valve 49,which is held from displacement by the wire cage A50 secured in the nut5l screwed on the upper end of the valve casing 44 and serving tofholdthe tank 47 in place.

The third projection 52 has on its outer end the threaded portion 16,and has located in the interior thereof the customary springpressedcheck valve .53 operating in the customary manner. The pump barrel 35 isconnected with the outlet by the port 54, seen in Fig. l, which isadapted to be Closed by the valve 55 having the stem threaded throughthe packing-gland structure 56 threaded intothe casting 33, as clearlyshown in Fig. l, land provided with the handle 57 by which the valve canbe closed when desired. rlhe projection 58 has threaded into its lowerend the connection 59 by which it is secured to a pipeV 60 which may beextended tothe steam cylinder 6l of the air pump 62, and in this pipe60, I locate the cock V63, which can be opened or closed as'may bedesired.

In the reservoir l0, I screw or otherwise Secure the valve casing 65,which has the valve seat 66 formed therein and adapted to he closed bythe sliding valve 67 having its inner end in the hollow bolt threadedinto .the casing 65, and having the helically-coiled .expanding spring69 located therein beneath the plunger valve 67, so that said valve willbe held closed by a pressure varying with the amount that the. bolt 66is screwed in; In case it is desired to close this valve against anypossible pressure, I provide on it an annular shoulder 70, against whichthe end of the bolt 68 engages when it is screwed in to the limit. Theoutlet passage .71 may be provided with any suitable connection if it isdesired to carry the water of vcondensation to some particular pointinstead ot `discharging it directly.

'Ihe operation of my improved device is as follows:

Assuming that Athe supply of oil inthe reservoir has been used up untilthe water has reached the level of the top of the tube 29,

Vthe oil to be forced out.

tinued until the reservoir is filled with oil, as

indicated by its being forced out through the .outlet 71, or as may beseen in the gauge glass which is usually employed in these devices. Ifit should happen that the oil in lthe tan-l; 4T is exhausted before thereservoir is filled,

"the valve 49is seated by gravity and .the suction of the pump piston,so that air cannot be pumped into :the reservoir, which would be highlyobjectionable, and .the resistance created to the outward movement ofthe pi ton 36 will indicate to lthe operator that oil supply in thetanlr 47 .is exhausted, so that he will relill it before further opefetten. When the reservoir is lil-led,the .valves lf?, 2l

and 24- are again opened, and the automatic sight-feed lubrication willbe resume l..v 'In case it is `desired to lubricate the vcyliI-ider 6:1directly, the cock 55 is closed and the cool; 63 is opened, when theoperation of ,the handle 36 Vwill pump oil directly to the cylinder 6l.Similarly, by screwing up ,the bolt 66 to close the valve 6? immovably,and closing the valves 2l, 24 and all but the desired tone .of thevalves 17, oil can be forced in quantity to the cylinder connected withthe valve l? that has been left open, so that in case of einergency, anycylinder can be copiously lubricated almost immediately. Y

lIn Fig. 5, I have illustrated an alternative construction to take theplace of the valve 49, and prevent air being pumped into the reservoir.In this case, I omit the valve seat 48 and the cooperating ball 49, andits casi-ng'O, and modify the valve 45, lettered inthe niodiiication45", but omitting the spring to hold it sea-ted, and by arranging it torest by gravity upon the top ofthe retaining sleeve 72 screwed into thebottom of the check valve casing 44 lclose enough toits seat so thatwhile the check valve 45@ is normally open, the pressure of the oil whenthe piston 36 is moved inward will lift it andseat` it before thespr-ing associated with the check valve 53 yields to permit Vhen the oilinthe tank 47 is exhausted, the air that would then pass below the valve45a does not furnish a 'medium by which the valve 45L can be lifted toits seat, and the piston 86 cannot compress the air in the tank 47suciently to overcome the resistance of the spring associated with thevalve 53, so that neither oil nor air can be pumped after the oil supplyfalls below the valve 45a. To prevent the valve 45.a from seating'on thetop of the retaining sleeve 72, and thus preventing the oil and air frompassing the valve 45a' when it is down, I form one or more recesses 73in the top of the sleeve 72.

While I have shown and described my invention as embodied in the formwhich I at present consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, itwill be understood that it is capable of modification, and that I do notdesire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claimsexcept as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

l. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containingoil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means forsupplying normal oil-feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight-feedapparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, asupply tank, a force pump connected to draw its supply from the tank,connections from the discharge of the pump to the reservoir, a three-wayvalve casing having one end screwed into the reservoir ,and the directlyopposite-end internally threaded, a hollow bolt closed at its outer endscrewed into said opposite end, a valve seat located in the passagebetween said ends, an outlet between the valve seat and the bolt, asliding valve adapted to co-operate with said seat and having its outerend in the hollow bolt, and a helicallycoiled expanding spring in thebolt beneath the valve, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containingoil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means forsupplying normal oil-feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight-feedapparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, asupply tank, a force pump connected to draw its supply from the tank,connections from the discharge of the pump to the reservoir, means forclosing said connections, a pipe leading from the discharge of the pumpto deliver the oil from the force pump at a point distant from thereservoir, and a shutoff cock in said pipe.

3. In a lubricator, the combination with a reservoir normally containingoil in its upper part and water in its lower part, of means forsupplying normal oil feeding pressure to the reservoir, sight feedapparatus to carry the oil drop by drop to the part to be lubricated, asupply tank, a force pump, connections from the force pump to thereservoir including an automatic closing check valve opening whensuiicient pressure is applied thereto by the force pump, and connectionsfrom the supply tank to the force pump which prevent pumping air intothe reservoir when the supply of oil in the tank is exhausted, saidconnections comprising a passage containing a downwardly facing valveseat, a valve therein normally held away from the seat, but forcedupward against it by the pressure of the oil when the pump piston isforced inward, and a supporting sleeve in the passage for the valvehaving a recess in its upper end for the purpose described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 27 th day of May,1925.

FARMER DORSEY.

